Very late Tuesday evening roundup

Fascinating FP article on the reality behind the collapse of the Soviet Union. I tend to distrust anything coming out of the AEI, but this is quite good and not ideological. Not the most important excerpt, but a good one:

Those who instilled this remarkable "break in consciousness" were no different from those who touched off the other classic revolutions of modern times: writers, journalists, artists. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed, such men and women "help to create that general awareness of dissatisfaction, that solidified public opinion, which … creates effective demand for revolutionary change." Suddenly, "the entire political education" of the nation becomes the "work of its men of letters."

See also Anne Applebaum's lament on what Mikhail Gorbachev has done with his post-Soviet life.

Ricks calls out Kristof and smug veterans.

Really great discussion about The Book of Mormon, most posts are worth reading (sadly, Arun Gandhi's is the most vapid). In keeping of the tradition of sharing pertinent Lewis Black clips, see this one: and here's Ricky Gervais for good measure: